Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The 1st Hallelujah Psalm^[a]

¹⁸ Then Naomi understood that Ruth would not agree to return to her own country. So she stopped saying that Ruth should leave her.

Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem

¹⁹ Naomi and Ruth travelled together to Bethlehem. When they arrived there, the people were very surprised. The women from the town said, ‘Is this really Naomi?’

²⁰ Naomi said to them, ‘Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, instead.^[a] The Almighty God has made my life very sad. ²¹ I left here with everything that I needed. Now the Lord has brought me back here with nothing. The Almighty Lord has turned against me, so that I have suffered. It is not right for you to call me Naomi.’

²² That is how Naomi returned from Moab with Ruth. Ruth was from Moab. She was the wife of Naomi's son Mahlon. Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem when the harvest of barley was beginning.

The old agreement and the tabernacle

9 The first agreement included rules about how people should worship God. It also spoke about a special place for people to worship God on this earth. ² Israel's people made a special tent for God.^[a] The first room in that tent was called the holy place. The special lampstand was in this room. The special table with the bread which they offered to God was there too.^[b]

³ Behind a second curtain, there was a very special room. It was called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ The gold altar for incense was in there.^[c] The Covenant Box was there too.^[d] The box had gold on all its sides. Inside the box was the gold pot that contained the special food called manna.^[e] The box also contained Aaron's stick that had grown leaves.^[f] It also contained the two flat stones on which God had written the rules of his agreement with his people. ⁵ The shapes of two special angels stood on the top of the box. They were made from gold and they showed that God was there with great power. The angels held out their wings over the lid of the box. That lid was the place where God forgave the people's sins. But we cannot explain everything about these things now.

⁶ So that was how they prepared the special tent. Then the priests would go into the first room of the tent every day. They went in there to serve God, as his rules taught. ⁷ But only the special leader of the priests could go into the second room. He went in there only once every year.^[g] He had to take with him blood from an animal that they had killed. He offered the blood to God on his own behalf, so that God would forgive his sins. He also offered it on behalf of the people. Then God would forgive their mistakes too.

⁸ In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God. ⁹ This is like a picture that means something for us today. It teaches us about the gifts and sacrifices that people offered to God, to worship him. When someone gave those things to God, it could not make him clean again in his mind. ¹⁰ The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.

God's new agreement

¹¹ But now Christ has come as our special priest. He brings us the good things that are now here. He has gone into God's own place in heaven. That is a greater and much better tent than the old tabernacle. No person made this tent. It does not belong to this world at all. ¹² Christ went into the Most Holy Place on our behalf. He did this once, for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats or young cows when he went in there. Instead, he took the blood of his own death to offer to God. In that way, he made us free from sin for ever.